CrossFit Lincoln

Mental Strength - Advice for Improved Performance

I was recently reading an email newsletter from Chris Carmichael, CEO/Head Coach of Carmichael Training Systems, and he made a few interesting points regarding mental strength and endurance sports, specifically multi-stage endurance cycling events.
After completing the Lincoln Half-Marathon last week, I instantly incorporated these topics into my own mental approach and training for endurance running.

• Your brain is more important than your fitness. In endurance sports, brains beat brawn every time. You have to stay engaged and focus on eating, pacing, conserving energy, and optimizing recovery between stages, training sessions, or workouts. Your mood will play a big role, too. Staying positive and upbeat in the face of increasing fatigue is difficult, but a negative outlook will be self-fulfilling.
• Everyone will go through a bad patch. Most people will go through several bad patches. You help your teammates and training partners through those periods because at some point it will be your turn.
• Your biggest threat is your own ego. You can get away with letting your ego drive you beyond your limits. Trust your training and stay within yourself, becuase you will pay dearly if you start to push harder and longer than you are trained for.
• There’s no quitting. When you allow quitting to be an option, it’s easier for quitting to become your choice. Losing a limb is grounds for going home early. Short of that, there’s no quitting.

Take these topics and apply them to your own mental approach and training.

2012 Ni-Bthaska-Ke Trail Run 12K

This is absolutely my favorite race of the season! On trail, tough terrain, and just an all-around great event.
The weather leading up to race day had been hot, humid, and dry. But the morning of race day, a thunderstorm rolled through and made the trails muddy and sloppy. As a result, I struggled through various technical sections of the race and the muddy trails eventually wore me down. I finished slightly slower than 2011, but was still happy with the time considering the conditions of the trail. The Lincoln Half-Marathon is only weeks away!